Things That Burn
by Taisi
Summary: "For a long time whenever I saw fire that's what I thought of. But then we met Ace in Alabasta, and he was a Fire Man, and he burnt down this whole fleet of Billions ships that were coming after us, and it was amazing! So after that, when I saw fire, I thought of him." (Drabble, nakamaship.)


_(A/N: I tried my hand at a Robin/Luffy nakamaship, and I'm not sure how it turned out. :\ But hey, happy chocolate bunny day!)_

* * *

"Wake up, my captain," Robin urged gently, pushing the hair back from the sleeping boy's face. "You're missing the second parade."

Their nakama were somewhere nearby, the festival had been in full swing for hours, and the medication Chopper gave Luffy early in the afternoon was promised to make him drowsy.

She sank from her crouch into a kneel, tucking her skirt around her legs neatly. Most of the bandages had come off the day before, but their last run-in with the Marines had been sudden and brutal, and this time Luffy hadn't come out unscathed.

"Sea stone bullets," Robin murmured in distaste, brushing her fingers over the gauze on Luffy's throat. "What's next, sea stone cannons? And how are you to tell the difference when you try to bounce them away?"

A thunder of drums brought her attention back to the street, and she smiled at the costumed performers dancing their way through the procession headed toward the capitol. There were hundreds of paper lanterns strung up above the plaza, wooden stalls boasting games and prizes for children, and dozens of booths selling food and wine.

They had docked the Sunny at this island two days ago, so Franky could make some repairs- and, secretly, so Luffy would have time to rest and heal.

"You're so fortunate," the innkeeper had told them pleasantly when they checked in. "You're here just in time for Sun Island Day!"

Torch bearers came after the dancers, spinning the fire and tossing lit batons into the air. The roar of the flames was almost drowned by the roar of cheers from the crowd, and Luffy blinked awake in time to see a man don a cloak of fire- he was probably wearing flame retardant material underneath, Robin supposed, the costume makers did a marvelous job creating the-

"Ace?"

Her lungs turned to ice, and Robin glanced down at her captain sharply. Felt her heart tear open and bleed at the way his eyes tried to focus on the stranger lit with fire, the way he leaned forward to give them help and started to reach out.

He was the baby, Robin knew. And a peruse through Nami's adventure log some time ago had led her to understand that Ace was very much the big brother.

_"He was so kind," _the penned words told her. _"We joked that he must not have been Luffy's brother, he was far too kind. Luffy showed off everything he could, from us to Merry to his rubber pistol- he followed Ace like a puppy and just about talked his ear off. Any sane man would have told him to bugger off before he drove them crazy, but Ace... drank it all in, like the words were each a treasure, and when Luffy would grab his hand or hang off his arm or drag him around the deck, he looked so __happy__. _

_By the end of the first night we all thought, 'Of course he's Luffy's brother. He couldn't be anything else.' No wonder our captain is so selfish, Ace must have spoiled him rotten."_

She had read that entry and smiled at its certainty and fondness; when she found out about the war at Marineford, it was one of the first things that sprang to mind, the way books and old text usually were. And she thought of it now, when Luffy finally woke up, and his hand fell from its reach like a stone.

_Ace must have loved him dearly, _she thought, _if Luffy learned he only had to reach out for him, and there he would be. _

"Captain," she tried again, and this time he glanced up at her. She smiled with all the kindness she had left in the world and held her hand out to him. "Let's go find the others. They're around here somewhere."

Luffy grinned at her, without shadows in his eyes or a pain to the edge of his smile, and this time when he put out his hand it was caught deftly and held tight.

"That guy in the parade really surprised me," he told her shortly after, swinging their joined arms together as they walked. "I thought for a second he'd eaten a Fire Fruit, too!"

"Well, you were still drowsy from your nap; when you woke up and saw him, your mind must have just jumped straight to the first familiar thing."

They skirted another pair of torchbearers and Luffy craned his neck to watch them go, only turning around when he almost stumbled over a crack in the pavement.

"You know when I was little, the place where I lived got set on fire," he said plainly, and Robin looked down at him in shock, visions of Ohara spinning through her head without warrant. "Yeah, it was crazy! I thought I was gonna die! For a long time whenever I saw fire that's what I thought of. But then we met Ace in Alabasta, and he was a Fire Man, and he burnt down this whole fleet of Billions ships that were coming after us, and it was amazing. So after that, when I saw fire, I thought of him."

He smiled sunnily, and Robin rode out a swell of anguish in silence.

They rounded the corner and saw their friends at a table; Luffy called out to them and waved, and they received a chorus of greetings in return, but Robin found she couldn't let him go after all.

"And now?" she asked Luffy softly, and he blinked.

"Now I think of something else." He pushed his hat back, and was already opening his arms to receive Usopp in a hug as the sharpshooter darted towards them. "And I hate things that burn."


End file.
